Air Canada passengers delayed after 1 plane hits another on tarmac at YVR

Passengers on two Air Canada flights at Vancouver International Airport were delayed Sunday afternoon after the planes they were on collided on the tarmac.

The airline said in an email that the incident occurred when an Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 was pushed back from the gate.

The wing tip of the Airbus “came into contact” with a Jazz Air Canada Express Q400 plane parked at a nearby gate, the airline said.

No one was injured, Air Canada said, and customers plan to fly to their final destinations later today on other flights.

Passenger Sylvie Barma was on the Airbus around 2:00 p.m. returning home to Quebec when the incident occurred.

“We were shocked by a fairly strong impact,” Barma said from the airport, where he was waiting for his delayed flight. “We were worried for a few moments.”

Barma said when he looked out, he saw a piece of his plane’s wing on the ground. And when the planes moved about 20 minutes later, he saw a piece of the Q400’s wing fall to the ground.

“We still got great service,” Barma said, adding that the pilot reported what was happening. “The situation was well managed.”

He said Air Canada has another flight scheduled to take passengers to Quebec by 8:15 p.m. Sunday.

The airline did not say how many passengers were affected, but the Q400 seats about 75 passengers and the Airbus A319 between 120 and 156 passengers.

YVR confirmed its fire and rescue crew responded to the incident Sunday afternoon and no one was injured.

On Friday, the airport said it expected 316,000 travelers over the long weekend.